BOISE, ID — Rainfall has been a familiar sight here for the past few days. However, volunteers of the Red Cross have seen a little more than standing water.
Idaho News 6 reached out to the American Red Cross of Idaho and spoke with Matthew Ochsner, the Communications Director to discuss how they were responding to the natural disasters happening along the West Coast and Hawaii.
Ochsner said, “We were responding as an organization to many disasters at once. Whether it would be the devastating wildfires we saw in Hawaii… And now we're seeing potential flooding associated with Hurricane Hillary coming to the west coast. There's just a lot going on right now.”
These support efforts are put into play by the copious amounts of volunteers in the Red Cross.
“We are driven by our volunteers. 90% of our workforce are volunteers, and they train year-round to respond to disasters whether they be disasters at home or across the country,” said Ochsner.
Ochsner explained that they have provided about 32,000 meals in Hawaii alone and provided about 5,000 overnight shelter stays in the 16 shelters they have opened there.
If you would like to support the red cross in its efforts of providing resources to those in need in the southwest and Hawaii, you can reach out to your local Red Cross to see how you can volunteer as well as make a financial donation online.
